A syllable must contain a vowel (or vowel-like) sound. The most common type
of syllable in language also has a consonant (C) before the vowel (V) and is
typically represented as CV. Technically, the basic elements of the syllable are
the onset (one or more consonants) and the rhyme. The rhyme (sometimes
written as ‘rime’) consists of a vowel, which is treated as the nucleus, plus any
following consonant(s), described as the coda.
Syllables like me, to or no have an onset and a nucleus, but no coda. They are
known as ‘open’ syllables. When a coda is present, as in the syllables up, cup,
at or hat, they are called ‘closed’ syllables. The basic structure of the kind of
syllable found in English words like green (CCVC), eggs (VCC), and (VCC),
ham (CVC), I (V), do (CV), not (CVC), like (CVC), them (CVC), Sam (CVC),
I (V), am (VC) is shown in the accompanying diagram.
syllable
onset rhyme
nucleus coda
consonant(s) vowel consonant(s)
Both the onset and the coda can consist of more than one consonant, also known
as a consonant cluster. The combination /st/ is a consonant cluster (CC) used
as onset in the word stop, and as coda in the word post. There are many CC
onset combinations permitted in English phonotactics, as in black, bread, trick,
twin, flat and throw. Note that liquids (/l/, /r/) and a glide (/w/) are being used
in second position.
English can actually have larger onset clusters, as in thewords stress and splat,
consisting of three initial consonants (CCC). The phonotactics of these larger
onset consonant clusters is not too difficult to describe. The first consonant must
always be /s/, followed by one of the voiceless stops (/p/, /t/, /k/) and then one of
these liquids or glides (/l/, /r/, /w/). You can check if this description is adequate
for the combinations in splash, spring, strong, scream and square. Does the
description also cover the second syllable in the pronunciation of exclaim? How
about /εk-sklejm/? Remember that it is the onset of the syllable that is being
described, not the beginning of the word.
It is quite unusual for languages to have consonant clusters of this type. Indeed,
the syllable structure of many languages (e.g. Japanese) is predominantly CV. It
is also noticeable in English that large consonant clusters are frequently reduced
in casual conversational speech, particularly if they occur in the middle of a
word. This is just one example of a process that is usually discussed in terms of
co-articulation effects.
